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Witness History

The Reichstag fire

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.41.6K Ratings

🗓️ 8 April 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On 27 February 1933, the Reichstag building in Berlin, which was home to the German Parliament, was burned down.

This was a key event in the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship.

Berlin-born journalist, Sefton Delmer, told his story to the BBC World Service in 1967.

He grew up in the city so knew people involved with the Nazi party. This meant he was able to get close to the main people on the night.

Delmer walked around the burning building with Hitler and Goring. He recalls their conversations and describes the scene in this fascinating account.

Produced and presented by Gill Kearsley.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: The Reichstag fire in 1933. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi Curios, I'm Dara Brien.

0:03.5

And I'm Hannah Frye.

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And we are back for another series of curious cases.

0:07.6

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0:19.2

We tackle the mysteries of the universe through audacious experiments and expert insight.

0:23.8

Curious cases.

0:24.8

Listen first on BBC Sounds.

0:32.1

Hello and welcome to the Witness History podcast

0:34.8

from the BBC World Service with me, Jill Kursley.

0:38.7

I'm taking you back to the night of February the 27, 1933,

0:43.7

and a fire in Berlin that led to the rise of Nazi power.

0:48.7

Here you see the Reichstag, the German House of Parliament in Berlin,

0:52.1

which has been seriously destroyed by fire.

0:54.7

The fire was just a few days before elections. The fire was just a few days before elections.

0:58.4

Although Adolf Hitler had been appointed Chancellor,

1:01.0

the majority of seats in the German Parliament belonged to Hitler's rivals.

1:05.5

Sefton Delmer was there on the night of the fire.

1:08.5

He was a journalist in Berlin for the British newspaper, The Daily Express.

1:13.2

Delmer was a Britain born in Berlin.

...

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